More info: Ballots can be mailed back at no charge. A polling center will also be open at Fire Station No. 3, 1000 Pace St., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 26; and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the Feb. 27 election.

The discussion — which was hosted by Sustainable Resilient Longmont and Eco-Cycle at Front Range Community College, moderated by KGNU radio news producer Liz Lane and attended by about 45 people — ranged in topics from regulating oil and gas operators, to decreasing the city's diversion of waste and even how to sustain the health of bees in Longmont.

Advertisement

But the candidates' respective philosophies on how to steer sustainable housing and business development, especially along the St. Vrain — with Goldberg favoring a more hands-off approach than Waters — was the greatest point of contention.

Goldberg suggested regulating building along the waterway, but only enough so that the right proposals would be approved.

"We should turn to our environmentalists for guidance, but be nimble enough for when the right opportunity can bring a new resource to our town," he said.

The project will widen the creek's channel with the goal of preventing damage caused by future floods.

Further, Waters said the City Council should be the sole body to authorize exceptions to the setback, which strays from the model that gives a citizen review board power to make those decisions.

"We will have enhanced the property (along the creek) more than anyone ever has," he said.

Goldberg said empowering the council in such a fashion would drive it to a role of "micromanagement."

"It's a recommendation that should be made to council. This is the hierarchy of government," he said.

Russ Lyman, a telecommunications and data communications senior network engineer for CenturyLink and the third candidate in the special election, did not attend Thursday's forum.

The expense of the Resilient St. Vrain project should dictate a special system, Waters contended.

"Protecting the public investment is not micromanaging — that's the job of elected officials," he said.

When Lane asked both candidates to disclose whether they had accepted any campaign contributions from oil and gas operators, Goldberg misheard the question and admitted to accepting funds from developers before both candidates said they have taken no money from oil and gas players.

Regulations on oil and gas, though, were a point of agreement between the candidates, as both said they would support an ordinance for a 2,500-foot setback from houses, schools and sources of drinking water for fracking operations.

Limits on future development returned as a point of discussion toward the end of the talk, as Waters called for the city to implement a scoring system to gauge the environmental friendliness of building proposals, and give the go-ahead only to those that meet a certain threshold of sustainability.

Such a system, he said, may monitor the "triple bottom line of sustainable development," which should "put people, planet and environment on equal level with profit."

"Communities that are serious about sustainable development ... subject their proposals to a scoring system that addresses those three bottom lines," Waters said. "It has do well for the developer, but not at the expense of the environment."

Goldberg said he worries relying on a scoring system would remove what he said is a sometimes-necessary human element from the decision-making process.

"There are too many things that would be too hard to rate at this point or that point," he said. He offered the following example: "As we encroach upon the riparian setback, is that a 2 or 1?

"Tim brings up the triple bottom line at these forums. I applaud him for it; it certainly sounds good. I look forward to seeing more of it, but I would be skeptical," Goldberg said.

The Boulder County Clerk and Recorder's Office sent blank mail ballots to registered Ward 1 voters on Monday, although people living in that ward who are not already registered can do so, and vote, right up through Election Day, Feb. 27.

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story